This month’s book club pick, Open Water, is a stunning first novel by literary virtuoso and finalist for the BBC Short Story Award, Caleb Azumah Nelson. In a crowded London pub, two young fall in love. Both are Black British, both are artists, and both are trying to make their mark in a world that by turns celebrates and rejects them. Held in conjunction with New African Masquerades: Artistic Innovations and Collaborations.

Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones, revolves around James Witherspoon's two families—the public one and the secret one. When the daughters from each family meet and form a friendship, only one of them knows they are sisters. It is a relationship destined to explode. Held in conjunction with New African Masquerades: Artistic Innovations and Collaborations.

Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, is a piercingly raw and, at times, heartbreakingly satirical look at what it’s like to be young and Black in America. By placing ordinary characters in extraordinary situations, Adjei-Brenyah reveals the violence, injustice, and painful absurdities that Black men and women contend with every day in this country. Held in conjunction with New African Masquerades: Artistic Innovations and Collaborations.

This month’s book club pick is Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm by Laura Warrell. Circus Palmer, a Boston-based trumpet player and old-school ladies’ man, lives for his music and refuses to be tied down. Before a gig in Miami, he learns that the free-spirited drummer Maggie, is pregnant by him. Instead of facing the necessary conversation, Circus flees, setting off a chain of interlocking revelations from the various women in his life. Held in conjunction with New African Masquerades: Artistic Innovations and Collaborations.